The Fall River Street Tree Planting Program Inc., in partnership with the city, will be planting trees in the Sandy Beach and Maplewood neighborhoods with a grant provided by the U.S. Forest Service.

Notification of availability of free trees for citizens, property owners and business owners has been ongoing over the last eight weeks. Postcards have been mailed out and neighborhood distribution of information has been left with homeowners. To date in the Sandy Beach neighborhood, Woodman Street residents have responded with the most requests for street trees.

The Fall River Street Tree Planting Program would like to encourage all Woodman Street residents and other Sandy Beach residents who have not responded to the program to do so at this time. Sites must be assessed and Dig Safe notified before the actual tree planting can begin, and the process will flow much smoother and faster if all sites on a street can be assessed together.

Applications can be obtained on line at www.frstpp.org and at Rep. Alan Silvia’s office at 1664 South Main St. In the Maplewood neighborhood, applications can be obtained at Seabra’s Market on Stafford Road and at Douglas Wine and Spirits in Southway Plaza. Mailing of information to citizens in the Maplewood neighborhood is currently underway. Citizens may apply for trees for the sidewalk in front of their homes but also for their private property. Anticipated street tree planting is for 2014 spring/summer and private property plantings in the fall of 2014.

The focus of the tree planting initiative is to increase canopy cover to decrease heating and cooling energy costs. Fall River, Chelsea and Holyoke are three Gateway Cities that are the recipients of energy efficiency grants based on low urban forestry canopy cover, older homes, high population density, high wind levels and other factors. Planting trees across an urban neighborhood now will pay back with energy and water savings for decades as trees grow and mature.

The value of urban trees became especially clear when it was documented that a 40 percent increase in summer electricity usage occurred in Worcester when that city had a massive removal of trees due to the Asian Longhorned Beetle infestation.

The Fall River Street Tree Planting Program strongly encourages residents and businesses to take advantage of this opportunity that not only will reduce energy costs, but bring aesthetic, health, economic and environmental benefits to our community.